Vietnam Hospitals Hardly Keep Running on Low Medical Service Fees

Many state-owned hospitals in Vietnam will have to shut down if the proposal on medical service fees hike is not approved, Ministry of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien warned. The current fees kept unchanged for many years are not suitable to the present situation when the minimum salary level now stands at VND830,000/monthly, versus VND350,000 per month from 15 years ago, Tien attributed. With the low fees, it is very difficult for hospitals to operate amid the soaring goods prices, Tien noted. The ministry will not raise fees of all 350 medical services concurrently to ease burden to local residents. The hike is expected to rise by at least 7-10 times from its current levels from early 2012 if approved. The ministry will also urged hospitals to better the healthcare services and mitigate cumbersome administrative procedures for patients. Tien admitted the hike will cause negative impacts on a group of people without health insurance cards, so it will be carried out in three times, firstly focusing on too irrational fees. Meanwhile, Director of the ministry’s Legislation Department Tran Duc Long earlier said the increase will not affect 53 million people with health insurance cards because expenses for their medical treatment are mainly covered by health insurance agency, even hi-tech services with high costs. For near-poor people and farmers, the agency will support at least 30% of health insurance fees with the aim to expand health insurance coverage to all people by 2014. (bee.net.vn Oct 20)